Just Elected, Wittman Must Defend His Seat

Ten-month congressman Robert J. "Rob" Wittman (R) has been running for office virtually nonstop for nearly two years.

Wittman won the 1st District seat in December in a rare 30-day special election after Rep. Jo Ann S. Davis (R) died of breast cancer in October 2007.

"It has been constant motion," Wittman said of entering the special election a month after being reelected to the House of Delegates and now seeking a full congressional term.

"We've gone all over the district to get to know folks. I'm working hard to understand these . . . distinct areas, which have lots of things in common but are still unique," he said of the far-flung district, which includes all or part of 18 counties, including Prince William and Fauquier, and five cities.

He faces Democratic businessman Bill S. Day and Libertarian accountant Nathan D. Larson.

Wittman, 49, a former shellfish sanitation field director for the state Health Department, has held elective offices for more than two decades, starting in Westmoreland County. He won 61 percent of the vote in the reliably Republican district last year.

Most of Wittman's bills that have passed during his abbreviated congressional tenure have been admittedly ceremonial, he said. But he has drafted legislation on issues important to the district, such as reconstituting the transportation trust fund and cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

"Being in the minority, we don't get to have our bills heard with the frequency the majority does," said Wittman, who serves on the Armed Services and Natural Resources committees. "But we are greasing the skids to get those things going."

The biggest vote he has taken was on the $700 billion package to stabilize banks and financial markets. The plan calls for buying bad assets from faltering financial institutions. Although many lawmakers changed their no vote after the initial legislation failed in the House, Wittman voted against it twice.

"I had a number of concerns about it," he said. "We had other opportunities to address this without having to buy securities and place that risk on taxpayers. It didn't go far enough to hold companies accountable."

Day said he would have voted for the second version of the bill while "holding my nose, because of the $130 billion worth of sweeteners," referring to tax breaks that were extended to special interests, including Puerto Rican rum makers and the manufacturers of children's wooden arrows.

During his block walking, Day said he finds that 98 percent of the time, people say the issue most important to them is the economy. That cuts across party lines, he said.